The market capitalisation of exchange-traded funds listed on Nigerian Exchange Limited rose to N20.32bn in the first quarter of 2021.

The NGX said the trade volumes rose by 3,064 per cent from nearly 0.2 million units in Q1 2020 to 5.3 million units recorded in Q1 2021.

According to the NGX quarterly report for Q1 2021, the Nigerian Exchange Traded Products and ETF market witnessed a sterling performance since the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, resulting in market capitalisation of the 12 listed securities rising to N20.32bn.

The report showed that the market turnover (value traded) jumped by 4,556 per cent between Q1 2020 and Q1 2021 even as five of the listed securities were the most active during the period under review.

NewGold ETF took the lead in both value and volume traded in the ETF space as it traded 3.47 million units valued at N29.63bn.

Vetiva Griffin 30 was next, trading 814,372 units worth N13.94m; Lotus Halal transacted 746,400 units worth N9.95m; Meristem Value ETF sold 163,09 units valued at N2.90m, while Vetiva Banking ETF traded 56,116 units valued at N232,397.

The NGX said over 5.25 million units were traded and valued at N29.66bn in the period under review.

It said foreign participation dominated the ETF market as 92 per cent of foreign investors’ outclassed domestic investors (eight per cent).

Further analysis revealed that 10 brokers drove 99.8 per cent of total transaction value and 96.6 per cent of total volumes of ETFs traded in Q1 2021.

Stanbic IBTC Stockbroker retains its top position in this category, having traded in stocks worth N88.2bn between January and March 2021, representing 12.99 per cent of total value of shares traded in the period under review.

Cardinalstone Securities followed on the list with trading in stocks valued at N47.36bn, accounting for 6.97 per cent of the total value of shares traded in the first quarter of the year.

ABSA Securities Nigeria was next with its total trades valued at N41.53bn in the period under review representing 6.12 per cent of the total value recorded in the stock exchange market while Rencap Securities also traded in stocks worth N35.81bn, to stand fourth on the list as it accounted for 5.27 per cent of the recorded trades in monetary terms.